How to structure a modern finance department in 2025

Building a finance team is one of the most critical decisions for any growing company. The structure you choose will directly impact your ability to scale efficiently, make strategic decisions, and navigate an increasingly complex business environment.

If you're in the building phase, you might be at a loss as to where to devote your energy and how to allocate your resources.

It's worth putting in the effort to thoughtfully construct a team that best suits your company. After all, a well-rounded finance department will help the business reach its goals more efficiently and also help guide long-term company strategy.

We'll deep dive into the different options for structuring your finance department, and how to choose the right structure for your business.

Traditional finance department structure vs. modern structure

We need to quickly cover what the so-called "traditional" finance departments look like versus a more "modern" finance department structure.

A "traditional" finance department will be siloed, with each team member staying in their respective lane. There will be a strict hierarchy and little overlap.

A more "modern" approach to the finance department embraces agility, collaboration, and technology-driven innovation. Think shared services, cross-functional teams, AI-powered automation, and a flatter hierarchical structure. Modern finance departments prioritise real-time insights over periodic reporting, enabling strategic business partnering rather than just number-crunching.

We can't tell you which format is better for your company and your team. But we can give you insight into the finance roles and the questions you need to ask in order to build the best finance department for you.

Typical finance team roles

Before we dive into building your team, we’ll first need to cover the possible finance roles or functions that you may need. As previously mentioned, every finance department looks different. Some will include Legal or even People/HR teams, while others will focus strictly on finance. Keep in mind that quite a few finance team roles can be outsourced – even the CFO position doesn’t have to be full-time!

So here are the roles typically found in the finance department:

CFO or leadership function

The Chief Financial Officer is the captain of the ship, and the highest-ranking member of the finance department. Some companies opt for a VP of Finance or Finance Director instead. For the purposes of this article, we’ll stick with the title of CFO, although if the top finance person at the company has another title, their duties will presumably be similar. 

Note that the larger the company grows, the more defined these leadership roles become. If there’s a CFO and a Finance Director, for example, the CFO usually handles external duties while the Finance Director focuses on internal matters, such as managing the finance department. 

Depending on the size of the company, the CFO could be incredibly hands-on in day-to-day finance operations (especially if the finance department is tiny or they’re the only member). Or, the CFO might only be involved in high-level strategic decisions or general management duties. The range between these two extremes is vast!

In 2025, CFOs have evolved beyond traditional financial oversight to become strategic business partners and technology leaders. In any case, the following usually falls under the CFO's scope:

• The company's overall finance strategy

• Managing the company's investment portfolio

• Investor relations

• Broad strategies to increase profits and reduce losses

• Risk mitigation and management

• Leading AI and automation initiatives across finance operations

• ESG reporting and sustainability strategy integration

• Cross-functional collaboration with all business units

Related: Do CFOs make good CEOs

Treasury

Treasury professionals manage company money and financial risks. The treasury manager oversees:

• Cash flow with real-time visibility and predictive analytics

• Revenue

• The company's overall finances

• Compliance and risk

• Relationships with financial institutions

• AI-enhanced liquidity management and investment optimisation

For very young companies, many of these concerns aren’t concerns at all. If you have little cash flow and few customers, there’s also little risk to manage. 

But in cash-intensive industries or for companies with a short runway, good treasury management is hugely helpful. Same goes if you have complex compliance and risk issues to deal with.

FP&A

Financial Planning and Analysis professionals are in high demand these days. Companies are increasingly focusing on financial strategy, along with detailed data analysis, to help weather any future economic storms. These FP&A roles are therefore becoming more common. In 2025, FP&A teams are leveraging AI-driven predictive models and real-time scenario planning to provide continuous strategic insights rather than quarterly updates.

FP&A managers' duties include:

• Dynamic budgeting and forecasting with AI-powered scenario modelling

• Strategic financial planning

• Risk management

• Business partnering

• Real-time financial intelligence and dashboard creation

• Integration of ESG metrics into financial planning

That final point is what separates the best FP&A teams from the pack. The ability to integrate financial data into wider company decision-making - to make other teams more efficient and effective - is rare and precious.

Accounts payable and receivable

Some companies choose to have dedicated team members handle accounts payable and accounts receivable duties. This is necessary if your company works with many vendors, suppliers, or customers, or where your billing and payments processes require lots of human intervention.

AP and AR professionals handle incoming and outgoing invoices, payments, and payment reminders, among other responsibilities. However, in 2025, these roles are being transformed by AI automation, with systems now processing invoices with near-perfect accuracy and minimal human intervention.

In many cases, these processes can be automated successfully. Advanced AI-powered accounts payable software now offers touchless invoice processing, automated fraud detection, and intelligent payment routing. Some businesses don't need a dedicated AP team as a result.

Whether or not you choose to install AP/AR professionals depends on the complexity of your billing and payments cycles. You certainly can't afford not to get paid on time, and these teams ensure that happens.

Accounting and bookkeeping

Accounting is the backbone of any finance team. Accountants and bookkeepers have hands-on access to incoming and outgoing funds, and are responsible for the company's holy grail: the balance sheet.

Whether you choose to keep accountants in-house or outsource to an external accounting firm is up to you. If your accounting is pretty simple – not too many transactions, or very consistent billing – then outsourcing will be fine for a long time.

Once your accounting gets more complex (multi-currencies, different product lines with variable prices, more suppliers) you'll want a person or team in house. Modern accounting teams increasingly rely on automated reconciliation, AI-powered anomaly detection, and integrated financial platforms for enhanced accuracy and efficiency.

Financial Controlling

The Financial Controller is the finance department's chief accountant. They oversee all the accounting operations. Not every finance team has one, but you'll need a controller once the company -- and the finance team -- starts to grow.

Payroll

Your payroll manager will, clearly, handle all things payroll. They're responsible for ensuring that employees are paid correctly and on time. Payroll sometimes falls under the scope of the HR team or is handled by your accountant.

Similar to accounting, payroll can be managed in-house or it can be outsourced. When the company is small, you probably won't have a dedicated payroll department or employee. One person may wear multiple hats, and payroll will be one of them.

Tax

Tax professionals aren't a mandatory part of the finance team, but leaders will eventually need to have someone knowledgeable about tax either in-house or outsourced.

Why? Well for starters, every business has tax considerations to manage. Whether it's VAT, taxes on income, payroll taxes, or other tax issues, you'll need a tax expert. And the larger your company grows, the more tax you'll have to deal with. Especially if you operate within multiple countries, you rely on tax incentives as a revenue source, or your business requires lots of R&D.

So which roles do you need on your finance team? The next section will cover what to take into account when structuring your team.

ESG and Sustainability Analyst

A new addition to many finance departments in 2025, ESG specialists focus on environmental, social, and governance reporting and strategy. With 92% of CFOs planning to boost sustainability spending, these roles are becoming essential for:

• Sustainability reporting and compliance

• ESG metric integration into financial planning

• Carbon accounting and environmental impact measurement

• Stakeholder engagement on sustainability initiatives

• Regulatory compliance with evolving ESG requirements

Choosing the right finance department structure for your company

We sound like a broken record by this point. But truly, there's no one-size-fits-all approach to building a finance department.

There are a few non-negotiable responsibilities that the finance team handles no matter what: basic accounting, tax compliance, budgeting, and reporting. In 2025, cybersecurity awareness and data privacy compliance have also become non-negotiables for finance teams.

But beyond the basics, you'll need to consider all the following factors when choosing the right structure for your company's finance team:

Business model

A B2B company, a retailer, and a manufacturer all have different business models. This means that they have different ways of making money, creating revenue, and providing their service or product. It also means that they have vastly different needs for their finances.

The billing cycle is a key consideration here. If you expect annual recurring payments with relative consistency (and minimal churn), you don't need a huge accounts receivable team. And your FP&A needs may also be limited, since modelling future revenue is fairly simple.

If you rely on a high volume of consumer payments, you may need FP&A teams that can understand seasonality and react quickly to consumer demand. The faster they can inform your product and go-to-market teams about a change in the supply chain or consumer demand, the better.

Industry

Along with your company's business model, your particular industry may dictate how your finance team is structured.

For example, if you work for a software company, the finance team won't have to worry about things like inventory, the supply chain, physical stores, or leasing equipment. In that way, their accounting would be simple. However, SaaS companies usually have a strong FP&A function within their finance department to help forecast due to a rapidly evolving market.

On the other hand, finance teams in the construction industry have to manage vendors, employees, track invoices, and keep an eye on fluctuating costs of materials. In other words, there's a heavy emphasis on maintaining positive cash flow. So their best bet is to make sure the accounting, treasury, and accounts receivable branches of the team are solid. They won't need as much of an emphasis on FP&A at the beginning, for example.

Industries with significant environmental impact increasingly require dedicated ESG expertise, whilst highly regulated sectors need enhanced compliance and risk management capabilities.

Company stage

Just starting out? You probably won't need an entire finance department – no shocker there. But you will need someone who can manage payroll, basic accounting (unless you outsource), tax and compliance, and invoicing.

Established enterprise business? You'll most likely need a large finance department to handle internal and external matters – you might even need to place team members in every region if your business operates in multiple markets.

Other factors to take into consideration:

• How much do you want to automate your finance processes? AI automation capabilities are now essential considerations for 2025

• Can one person perform several roles?

• How much can/should you outsource finance processes?

• Do you need a specialist in each core function?

• How heavily do you rely on tools? Which ones are essential to your tech stack? Consider integrated platforms with embedded AI over point solutions

• Does your company plan to grow? How soon and how big?

• What are your remote/hybrid work requirements and capabilities?

• Do you need ESG reporting expertise for regulatory compliance or investor requirements?

It may not be entirely apparent at first which roles you'll need on your finance team. Leave room for growth and adjust accordingly along the way.

Technology and automation readiness

In 2025, your technology strategy significantly impacts team structure. Companies embracing AI-powered automation may need fewer transactional roles but more strategic positions. Consider:

• Your appetite for AI and automation implementation

• Current technology infrastructure and integration capabilities

• Data quality and availability for AI-driven insights

• Cybersecurity requirements and risk tolerance

• Need for real-time reporting versus periodic updates

Remote and hybrid work considerations

The pandemic-driven shift to remote work has evolved into sophisticated hybrid models that are now standard for finance departments. When structuring your team, consider:

• Geographic distribution of talent and time zones

• Cloud-based financial systems accessibility

• Digital approval processes and workflow automation

• Collaboration tools and asynchronous work capabilities

• Security requirements for distributed finance operations

If you build it, they will come

Having a finance team structure that aligns with the company's structure and is suited to the organisation's size, industry, and stage is the ultimate goal.

Building the perfect finance team will take time and a considerable amount of reflection, but the payoff will be worth it. Once you've got a solid foundation, it will be easy to grow and scale the team alongside the business.

In 2025, the most attractive finance departments are those that combine cutting-edge technology with strategic business impact, offering professionals the opportunity to drive meaningful change rather than just process transactions. Top talent will be attracted to working within a well-structured department that embraces AI, prioritises real-time insights, and values strategic business partnering.